tight race. remember the battle for the white house? still, it puts a focus back on a short stacked supreme court, which has seen more than one recent case locked in a 4-4 tie. joining us now from boston, supreme court justice stephen breyer. his book "the court and the world, american law and the new global realities" is now available in paperback. mike barnicle, elise jordan, and michael steele are all back with us for this conversation as br you back on the show. want to talk about the book and a couple other things. just on that issue, though, it's a long shot, but it did happen 16 years ago. how would the mechanics work with eight justices? >> about the same. the court, when it began at the time of the constitution's writing, had six members. they had six members for several years. they had ten members for several years after the civil war. they functioned with an even number of members. half of our cases are unanimous. the 5-4 cases are probably, oh, 20%. and it isn't the same five and the